1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to training and to providing feedback and/or instruction to operators of all types of vehicles. More specifically, the invention relates to systems and methods of integrating driving simulators, data acquisition systems such as, for example, event data recorders, and/or land-based or marine vehicles, as well as to methods of training or providing instruction to drivers using driving simulators, data acquisition systems and/or land-based or marine vehicles.
2. State of the Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,143, issued Nov. 14, 2000, relates to a system for simulating the operation of a vehicle containing a monitor, a plurality of control devices for the simulated vehicle, a computer, and mechanisms for dynamically controlling weather effects and creating traffic events. This reference discloses a system for simulating the operation of a vehicle in various weather conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,382, issued Aug. 20, 1996, relates to a motorcycle riding simulation system including a model motorcycle operated by a rider. A driven mount moves the model motorcycle to simulate riding conditions. This motorcycle simulator also contains a display showing scenery to the rider.
Similarly, other U.S. patents relate to simulators, mainly for entertainment purposes, having varying degrees of sophistication including an interactive racecar simulator system (U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,838, issued Mar. 12, 2002), a vehicle simulator with realistic operating feedback (U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,484, issued Mar. 4, 1994) and a vehicle simulator with low-frequency sound feedback (U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,308, issued Apr. 8, 1997).
However, to date, no system combines a simulator, a data acquisition system and/or a vehicle, or provides methods permitting training and/or providing real-time feedback to operators utilizing a simulator, a data acquisition system and/or a vehicle. Problems associated with this failure of prior systems include the lack of feedback or integration from the simulator to the vehicle, or vice versa, of the operator's actual performance during the training/instruction process, the inability to monitor and analyze the operator's performance in both the simulator and a vehicle, and the inability to provide real-time feedback to the operator during the training/instruction process.